Gartner Research

Alcatel Internetworking, Inc. OmniSwitch Modular Switches

Published: 05 January 2001

ID: G0090544

Analyst(s):
Kamini Umrania

Summary

Alcatel's OmniSwitch is a modular campus or backbone switch that provides a wide variety of connection options to Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI, ATM, and WAN networks. OmniSwitches perform frame and cell switching on a single platform using a 13.2-Gbps distributed cell-switching matrix. The OmniSwitch supports high-port capacities, up to 256 10Base-T or 100Base-TX ports, 56 OC-3c ports, and 84 DS1/E ports, as part of its comprehensive array of media connectivity. Network management is through the vendor's proprietary X-Vision management suite. With a switching fabric capacity of 13.2 Gbps, the OmniSwitch is slower than most gigabit switches, but does have great flexibility of connection with its large range of modules. The OmniSwitches became part of Alcatel's product offerings when Alcatel acquired Xylan.